BOAO, Hainan, March 26 (Xinhua) -- In the eyes of multinational executives who gathered for the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2026 this week, the recently adopted outline of China's 15th Five-Year Plan is a meticulously drawn "construction blueprint" for the world's second-largest economy, and a clear "opportunity list" for global investors.
As trade headwinds and geopolitical fog persist, the message from the resort town in south China's Hainan Province is clear: China is not only opening its market wider, but is also laying out a predictable and high-quality path for the next five years.
"The question is no longer if we should be in China, but is our corporate structure ready to capture the dividends of the 15th Five-Year Plan," said Holger Bingmann, vice chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce.
The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan pointed out that China will speed up efforts to achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, promote deeper integration of technological and industrial innovation, and keep fostering new quality productive forces.
China's focus on developing new quality productive forces reflects a deliberate shift toward advanced manufacturing, new energy industries and innovation-driven growth, which are precisely the sectors that will define global competitiveness in the decades ahead, Dino Otranto, CEO of Australian mining giant Fortescue Metals, told Xinhua in a written interview.
Chinese companies are already central to Fortescue's transformation, Otranto noted. "We are working with Chinese companies on zero-emissions mining equipment, battery energy storage systems, solar technology and wind systems. Beyond equipment, we are collaborating with Chinese researchers and steelmakers to accelerate low-emissions iron and steelmaking pathways."
In January, foreign direct investment in China's research and development and design services surged by 175.1 percent year on year. It demonstrates that multinational corporations are not just selling goods to China, but that they are also building the next generation of products in collaboration with China.
Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power has voiced its eagerness to seize the new development opportunities embedded in the blueprint and to further deepen its roots in the Chinese market.
It is very clear in the new plan that China will continue to develop renewable energy and energy storage, and focus on local consumption and demand, which will bring to the business more prosperity, said Mohammad A. Abunayyan, founder and chairman of the Board of Directors of ACWA Power.
He told Xinhua that ACWA Power is planning to invest more than 50 billion U.S. dollars in China by 2030, and is going to bring its know-how to work with innovation centers and universities in China to develop and localize seawater desalination technology.
"Hainan Free Trade Port is the real gate opener to the world. It brings us a great opportunity to do refueling services with the green fuel for shipping industries," Abunayyan said.
In the view of many multinational companies, China is not just the "world's factory" but also a "global market."
China has vowed to continue expanding domestic demand and share the dividends of its supersized market. With its 1.4 billion people and the world's largest, fastest-growing middle-income group, there lies enormous potential for investment and consumption.
Additionally, China highlights the need to improve living standards and increase consumer spending, the need to invest in both physical assets and people, and the need to actively expand investment and consumption in the fields of telecommunications, education, healthcare, elderly care and childcare.
"Even if you're working on a niche market in China, the opportunity may be bigger than anywhere else due to the large scale of the market and its rapid growth," said Denis Depoux, global managing director at Munich-based consultancy Roland Berger.
He also noted that the 15th Five-Year Plan sends a strong signal of China's commitment to expanding openness and advancing high-standard institutional opening up. This will provide sustained momentum to grow in China and collaborate with local partners.
"If you're not investing in China, you're just missing out. Something big in your industry may come from here because that innovation will be developed here, scaled here, and then exported elsewhere."
